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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. prune — to trim
  3. press — a publisher
  4. prune — to trim
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. plane — a tool
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. club — for dancing
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. pit — in a race
  13. bat — the animal
  14. press — newspapers
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. pit — a hole
  17. club — for golf
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. club — a group
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com